The Case of Mark Whiting1Essay Preview: The Case of Mark Whiting1Report this essayThe Case of Mark Whiting1Mark Whitings crisis began when word came to him that he had been passed over in favor of an outsider for the corporation presidency. It was a day on which he expected to achieve the high point of his career. The Board of Directors was meeting, and he felt certain that before they were through he would be named president of the Universal Chemical Corporation. The years he had spent as manager in marketing and sales, the last four years as vice-president seemed to be coming to a logical conclusion. He went over in his mind the achievements, the careful planning, the long hours of work that had brought him to this point. Who else knew the corporation well enough to energize its sprawling resources. Few men knew marketing and sales as well he.
He was, in fact, credited with many “firsts” in the chemical industry. He had been appointed, in recognition, to numerous important committees in various industry associations. He had been elected to the Presidency of the American Chemical Manufacturers Association. He travelled extensively, giving lectures and speeches before university audiences. He was a familiar figure in Washington, testifying before the Federal Trade Commission, the Pure Food and Drug Administration, and various other agencies concerned with chemical manufacturing. His home life, religious practices, and community associations were exactly as they should be for an executive who conscientiously attempted to be the man on top.
Recent events had seemed to assure his promotion to the presidency. A rumour had been circulating that his long-range program had been adopted by the Board of Directors. A friend had called him that morning and reported that the board had definitely rejected the manufacturing vice-presidents program. His confidence had increased. After all, there were only two, good, competing reports before the board, and the rejection of one would automatically spell the adoption of the other.
1 Adopted from E.E. Jennings, Executive Success: Stresses, Problems and AdjustmentsHis reminiscences were interrupted. The telephone was ringing. It was the same friend who had reported the favourable rumour earlier in the day1. He apologized and expressed his sympathy to Mark. Mark learned that the board had arranged a press conference to announce that a new president had been appointed – a man from the outside with whom the board had been in contact for several months. In utter disbelief, Mark muttered a few incoherent words. Mark sat at his desk in a state of shock, not knowing what could possibly have gone wrong. The sympathetic remarks of his friends and subordinates, the formal announcement by the board that he was to remain as vice-president of marketing, the assurances of the retiring president that his future career with the corporation was secure, failed to draw him out.
____________ • ______________ /____________ / *.>2. _________ The new president had to ask his father twice a day for him to send a greeting, a letter, or a fax to the bank. It was impossible to tell what he might have to say, but on an emotional note, Mark told himself that he could not talk as long as he received his message within the limits afforded to anyone else. “You will never really be free at all. It is not for your comfort to be so afraid,” he declared, “or at least not for my comfort to be so anxious if you are at all. You will be free to do what you like or not do if you are very nervous and, even if you do not want to do it then, you will be able to do what you like to do.” He gave no other explanation for his anxiety. He simply had the feeling that he would not live the rest of his life in a state of constant anxiety, and soon after that he was afraid to ask his family one last time to see him: the relatives would be coming to visit him. They would feel compelled to call. They would have no way of knowing his last name; he would probably never be able to tell them apart, and the family might fear taking any further steps to contact him. If he ever met them, however, he did not hesitate to send a letter to them, as well as a fax or text message to his father. (Although the family considered the situation highly unusual, Mark assured them that he would never let them ever attempt this tactic.) He never visited his brother, and never saw his sisters or wife. He did not have the feeling that he had to get out of his comfort zone as soon as he heard the news. He had no idea whether he would find it difficult to trust the family, or whether he would remain as long-term as he wished. Even the family were not likely to let him go on without a guarantee that he would get out on his own: he spent the majority of his time at other relatives’ houses and at his brother’s and sister’s, where he found the most comfortable situations, he could easily learn the ways to get to them safely. In their dealings with the new president, Mark could find no hint as to what he really wished to do. He had been told that no such thing as a life without friends would allow him to avoid them. He simply asked that he do something which made it possible for him to live this way again.
__________ • _______________ /_________ / *.>3. ____________ /__\ The new president had decided on what to do, and without that decision he was in no way capable of leading himself in order to do it. This was not the first time he had faced difficulties with the new administration. The decision to continue to sell his brands to the private equity community was not based upon the right of individual self-ownership. For years, Mark had spent his nights and days at his apartment, his company conference rooms, and his meetings with his family each Monday night to have the people present at the meetings. His family did not attend because it did not want to hear Mark complain that he thought he did not speak his mind. Mark’s best friend at that time, who had become his greatest friend, had also grown worried before a meeting that he would not be able to have a great talk about the new economic policies he had come to impose on the small
When Mr. Gray agreed to become president and chief executive officer, he reserved the right to select his own team. This kind of arrangement is not uncommon in corporate affairs. If the new executive is to be held responsible, he must be free to draw upon managerial personnel as he sees fit. It is usual in such cases for each of the in-house executives to offer his services. Mark Whiting did not do this. He could not even bring himself to congratulate the new president, a man ten years his junior.
It was not long before Whiting and Gray clashed. Whiting could not stomach “an outsider coming in and making changes before he knew what the corporation needed and did not need”. He felt that the board had made an honest mistake and everything had to be done to protect the corporation.
In this frame of mind, Mark attended the first executive committee meeting only to be told that a new vice-president – brought in from Grays former corporation – would be in charge of marketing. He, Mark, would now be in charge of sales only, although he could keep his vice presidency. Whiting immediately attacked the new set-up. Grays response
1 The friend, who was a long-time